Judge delays trial for man accused of multiple crimes

FAIRBANKS (AP) -- A judge has delayed a trial for a man accused of murdering a woman in an Ester apartment, stabbing a man in Fairbanks the same day and conspiring to kill three other people.

Jason Wallace, 22, was scheduled to go on trial in March for allegedly attempting to murder Corey Spears of Fairbanks.

The judge on Wednesday granted a request by Wallace's public defender to delay the start of the trial. It is now scheduled to begin June 8.

Geoffrey Wildridge, Wallace's public defender, said he needs more time to go over evidence in the Dec. 27 stabbing of Spears, 28, in the neck during an altercation.

Wallace's trial on charges of fatally beating 25-year-old Teacka Bacote with a framing hammer and conspiring to murder three other people in Fairbanks also likely will be delayed. That trial is scheduled to begin March 24.

Wildridge said he now expects it to begin early summer.

Wallace's trials could be the first chance for the public to learn the circumstances surrounding a bizarre chain of events that started with the Dec. 24 murder of Hakeem Bryant, 25, of Fairbanks and a Tacoma, Wash., man in Northern California.

William Holmes, 23, of Fairbanks, has been charged with the double murder as well as burning a rental car linked to the killings.

The conspiracy charges -- the latest in the complicated case involving three deaths and ties to three states -- allege that Wallace participated in plans to kill Michael Keys, Jacqueline Godfrey and Godfrey's young daughter. None of the three were killed.